


Steady Like Stone

by distantsun



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Cole is hard to write, Could be pre-relationship?, Gen, Spiders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-05
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-16 10:46:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3485333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/distantsun/pseuds/distantsun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Cadash greatly dislikes spiders and two people come to understand each other a little better.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Steady Like Stone

For the first time, Carin Cadash considered the idea that she should have listened to Cullen.

The commander was under the impression that the Inquisitor, Herald of Andraste, closer of rifts and public face of the entire Inquisition, ought not to go crawling around in caves hunting for treasure like a low-level agent. She’d politely invited him to stuff it, perhaps with a few (in retrospect probably unfair) choice words about his potential issues with females, dwarves, or both.

Now here she was, deep underground in some forsaken cave, separated from her friends, lost in the dark with her only exit blocked off by an inopportune rock slide—and she could hear something hissing in the darkness and it sounded like _spiders_ and she _really_ didn’t like spiders.

Clutching her bow in hands that only trembled a little, she backed herself slowly against a wall, careful to feel around her for anything that was fuzzy or had too many legs. The stone was cool and damp, and she took a deep breath, steadying herself. She was a dwarf. She should be right at home here. But as Varric liked to remind everyone, not all dwarves loved caves.

Her eyes had adjusted to the darkness as much as they were going to, and the Anchor on her hand provided some dim light, sickly and green though it was. She began to slide herself along, fingertips and back in contact with the stone, thinking she’d follow the wall until she found another way out.

The hissing, rustling, chittering noises around her intensified. Her skin prickled, and images of venom-dripping fangs hurtling toward her face made her shiver. She nocked an arrow with hands now shaking outright, brandishing her bow in front of her, feeling sure they were _just about to leap_ —

Something flashed in the darkness ahead, quick and deadly. She heard some truly unpleasant, visceral squishing noises, and then a large and solid _something_ hurtled into her, pushing the breath from her lungs and slamming her into the rough ground.

Shockingly calm, she waited for teeth to sink like needles into her flesh. None did. And whatever was on top of her didn’t feel like a spider, as dubious a recommendation as that might be.

“So many _legs,_ ” it said, in a voice full of something like wonder.

“Cole,” she said, trying to keep the disappointment out of her voice, as he untangled his limbs from hers and she felt his weight lift off of her. “Thank… thank you.”

Of all the people on her team she could be trapped underground with in a situation where chance of rescue was uncertain, Carin had to admit that Cole would not have been her first choice. Or third. Or ninth. He probably ranked above that creepy bartender in the tavern who always undressed her with his eyes, but just barely. She knew she was being unfair—he was sweet, in his own way, and she truly believed he wanted to help—but she hadn’t exactly had occasion to sit down to tea with mind-reading spirits from the Fade as a Carta runner, and she wasn’t sure she wanted that to change.

“You don’t like them,” he said. “Skittering, sharp, sibilant. Something from the dark you can’t trust.”

She started, feeling a pang of guilt until she realized he was referring to the spiders. _Probably. It’s all metaphors with him._ “Not my favorite creatures, no.”

“They spin the silk that sews the sutures.” She heard his voice moving closer, heard him shifting in the dark as he wiped the blood from his daggers. “Medicine from monsters. It’s not all so simple.”

She had no idea how to respond to that. She found his manner of speaking odd and sometimes rather beautiful, but right now all she wanted was for someone to calmly, plainly tell her the way out.

“I wish I could.” He sounded truly regretful. “Things fell apart. Searching for the spot that shatters the stone. It might… it might take time.”

_The slide was worse than I thought_ , she translated in her head. _They’re going to have to dig me out._ Again, she regretted the trip. She hadn’t even found anything that was worth all that much, just a handful of gems, some old armor and a letter that felt charred and was probably illegible.

Sighing, she slid down the wall until she was seated, bow held loosely in her lap in case she needed to leap into action again. If she looked out of the corner of her eye she could just barely see Cole, a darker crouched shape in the darkness beside her.

They sat in silence for a while. Carin tried to keep her mind clear. She wished Sera or Bull were there to fill the silence with off-color jokes and preposterous stories. It was too easy to let her worries, her fears weigh down on her here like the stone that pressed in on all sides. Ending up here was only one of the many mistakes she’d made as Inquisitor…

“Steady like stone, but warmer,” Cole murmured, and she jumped. “She says _I’m not a leader_ but she forms the foundation. Too small to hold all this.”

“If that was a comment on my height—“ She tried to keep her voice joking, light, but it cracked. _Why does he have to do that? Can’t I even have my thoughts to myself anymore?_

She heard him take a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” he said; then, uncharacteristically lucid: “I know I make people uncomfortable.”

Trite words of comfort came to mind, but Carin knew better, knew he’d know better, and held her tongue.

“I don’t mean to,” he continues. “You’re all just so… tangled. All of you wanting things so loudly, needing help but wanting to pretend you don’t. Not really thinking what you say, not saying what you think. Your mind is screaming so I say the words that soothe but you don’t like it. It’s… confusing.”

_That_ , she could agree with. Social graces had never been her strong suit—with her talent for stealth, she found it easier to avoid people more often than not. Now that she’d been thrust into a leadership position, forced to balance diplomacy and influence with intrigue and power, she sometimes felt she was stumbling through a dance to which she’d never even been told the steps.

“Some things, people keep to themselves for a reason,” she said quietly. “We all have to hide things sometimes.”

“They go on hurting if they hide things,” Cole said vehemently. “They’re upset with me when I say it, but it helps the hurt anyway. I hear it in their hearts. Less alone with the pain when it’s in everyone’s ears.”

He had a point, but… “That’s their decision to make, not yours,” she said, as gently as she could. She felt for him—as little as she understood of spirits and magic, she knew enough to recognize that this world must seem so strange to him, full of hidden rules that didn’t make sense.

“You’re cold,” he said suddenly, just as a slight shiver went through her body. She hadn’t noticed the chill when she was moving, but now goosebumps were rising on her arms from the damp air.

She heard a rustle of fabrics, felt him move closer. Then stop. He paused for a long time, then spoke hesitantly, as if testing out the words. “Would you—can I give you my coat?”

She smiled, sensing the inexplicable importance of the moment. “Yes, you can if you like. Thank you, Cole.”

Soft, worn fabric settled over her shoulders. It smelled like burning wood and rain.

It might have been hours before a burst of noise and light interrupted their companionable silence, resolving itself into Cassandra, throwing herself against her shield to break through the makeshift wall of rocks that had trapped them. Carin greeted her companions with great relief.

“You were stuck in there with Creepy?” Sera squealed in disgust as they trudged back through the caverns toward the entrance. “It try to eat you or something?”

“I do not eat people,” Cole said, very seriously.

“And _he_ has a name, Sera.”

He glanced back at her, and she thought she saw him smile just a little.


End file.
